A Crash Course On Kissing

In the matter of kisses, I yield the floor to the Roman poet Catullus:

You ask how many of your kisses do I need,Lesbia, how many kisses will suffice.As many as the grains of Libyans sandsThat lie upon the perfumed Cyrenian plainBetween the sweltering shrine of fiery JoveAnd the sacred sepulchers of ancient kings.Or as many as the countless stars in quiet nightThat stare down on the furtive loves of men.Only such a number of your kisses, only thisWill be enough and above for your crazy lover,Which neither curious eyes can number upNor evil tongues enchant to bind our play.

Thus does the poet acknowledge the kiss as the potato chip of erotic behavior. One tends to lead to another, and if it's all going well, it's often difficult to find a reason to stop. Paradoxically we have reason to wonder how much kissing the ancients actually did, at least based on their frescoes. More after the news.